


coat check

by downtothewire



Category: Marvel, Runaways (Comics), Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2019-04-04 08:06:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14015934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/downtothewire/pseuds/downtothewire
Summary: A drunk and recently out Karolina meets Nico who's working coat check that night and they hit it off in what otherwise felt like an otherwise lost night to KarolinaA meet cute, AU





	coat check

Karolina was drunk. Drunker than she ever remembered being before. She'd been sheltered by her parents and the church her whole life, so she was never much of a drinker or anything remotely rebellious really. That didn't ring true tonight. Karolina was six whiskeys deep and she planned on buying another one.  


She needed to be drunk right now. She was recently out and needed the liquid courage to do something about it. It didn't help that it was St. Patrick's day, so, the alcohol felt endless. So, here she was, in some club playing 90s throwback music, with Gert and Chase, drunk out of her mind, feeling defeated. She had tried talking to some girls, but nothing seemed to come of it. It seemed the second she turned around, the girl started talking to some guy, and one of them even shot her down. She thought the hard part was going to be coming out, but now she's starting to see that the whole finding a partner thing wasn't easy either.  


She decided to leave. Seeing Chase and Gert on the dance floor making out, she opted for an irish exit - it was St. Patrick's day after all. She stopped by coat check to grab her jacket, and manning the counter was a girl. The girl had dark makeup and dark clothes. She seemed none too happy to be there. Karolina thought she was pretty. She walked up to the counter and handed the girl her ticket. The girl walked back to grab her jacket from the rack. The whole room was spinning around Karolina, so, she lowered her head onto the counter and started taking deep breaths. She felt someone tapping her shoulder. She looked up and the room seemed to spin even more. It was a bad idea to put her head down, it only made things worse. She groaned as her eyes tried to refocus. When they did, the girl was standing in front of her with her jacket.  


"You seem like you had fun," the girl told her.  


"Not really," Karolina replied.  


"Why's that?"  


"Got shot down by several," Karolina hesitated, "people, and now everything is spinning."  


"Want some water?"  


"That would be great, thanks."  


The girl walked into the back room and came back with a bottle of water that she handed to Karolina. Karolina drank it like she'd spent months in the desert, but once she put the bottle down, it only made her stomach turn and she felt like throwing up.  


"Nauseous?" The girl asked.  


Karolina could only nod as she tried to gather herself.  


"I should probably call a Lyft home," Karolina told the girl.  


"Are you sure you're not going to throw up in the car?"  


"I probably will."  


The girl then moved to the side of the counter and lifted a part of it to allow Karolina entrance.  


"Wait it out in here. Just sit on the floor so my manager won't see you if he walks by," The girl told her. Karolina walked into the coat check. Who was she to deny a pretty girl? She sat with her back to the counter and just laid her head back against it with her eyes closed.  


"Closing your eyes will only make it worst," the girl told her.  


Karolina responded with some non-committal mumbling.  


"I'm Nico, by the way."  


Nico. Karolina liked that name. She then opened her eyes and smiled a shy smile at Nico. "I'm Karolina," she told her.  


A couple walked up to the coat check arguing. The guy handed Nico the ticket without even looking at her. Nico grabbed their jackets, handed it to them, and they walked out - never stopping their fight.  


"I'm so glad they're gone," Karolina said, "They were not helping the spinning thing."  


"I've seen worst," Nico told her. Then she slid down to sit next to Karolina on the floor. Karolina blushed at the thought of how close the girl was to her now.  


"Aren't you going to get in trouble if your boss doesn't see you?"  


"It's fine. This isn't my dream job, anyway," Nico told her.  


"It isn't? I'm shocked," Karolina teased.  


"Funny."  


"So what is the dream job?"  


"I don't know, is that bad?"  


"If it is I'm bad too, because I have no idea."  


"Oh, really? How bad are you?"  


That took Karolina by surprise. She had just brought the bottle of water to her lips, but thankfully didn't take a drink, because she sputtered at Nico's comment - flustered. Nico was laughing.  


"You're really easy to make blush, aren't you?"  


Karolina flushed a darker red.  


"Don't worry. I like that in people," Nico told her. A gender non-committing statement that made Karolina hopeful.  


"Don't make fun of me, I'm drunk."  


"Nah, you're wasted. You were drunk three drinks ago, I'm assuming," Nico teases more.  


"You're mean," Karolina tells her. She turns to look at Nico and frown, but she finds Nico smiling and she can't help but smile back and think about how close their lips are from one another right now.  


"Nico?" A stern voice was heard. Nico looked at Karolina and put a finger over her lip telling her to keep quiet. Nico stood, and Karolina could only hear the voices - her lips still burning from Nico's touch.  


"Why were you down there?" The person, who Karolina was assuming was the manager, asked.  


"I was just taking a quick water break," Nico answered.  


"That's fine, but next time drink your water at the counter in case someone walks by," The manager told her, "We're very full tonight."  


"Okay, sorry about that."  


"That's fine," the manager told Nico again. Karolina could hear the footsteps as the manager walked away.  


"I'm sorry, I think I'm gonna have to stay up here from now on," Nico told Karolina while looking forward. If someone saw this from the outside, Nico would probably look crazy - talking to herself.  


"That's okay," Karolina told her. Nico brought her hand to Karolina's shoulder and squeezed. Feeling brave, Karolina interlaced their fingers and squeezed back, smiling.  


"Thank you for all your help tonight," Karolina told her, "I already feel less sick."  


"Hey, when a pretty girl comes stumbling down the hallway needing rescue, who am I to deny her?" Nico told her.  


"Are you flirting with me?" Karolina asked, genuinely confused.  


"Well, I'm trying to. Seems like I'm not doing a great job if you're asking that," Nico told her.  


"Oh, no! It's not that," Karolina explained, "Just a rough night. For what it's worth, I think you're pretty too."  


Karolina was fascinated by Nico's hand as she kept running her thumb soothingly over the soft skin. She felt happier than she had felt in a while. She liked this feeling. It felt like hope, like being able to believe the hardest part was over. Nico looked down at Karolina and smiled. An involuntary dopey grin crossed Karolina's face as she looked back at Nico. Karolina, then, dizzy from looking up and put her head between her knees to keep her head from spinning while still holding Nico's hand.  


She hears the voices of her two friends coming down the hallway.  


"Chase, I've called her four times and she hasn't picked up. She's not used to drinking," Gert said.  


"I bet she just went home to sleep it off. Karolina's fine," Chase replied, his voice slurred.  


The third voice she heard now was Nico's.  


"I think I know where you can find the girl you're looking for," Nico told them.  


Both Gert and Chase looked at Nico confused. Nico tugged Karolina up with their hands still interlaced. Karolina stumbled a bit getting up, but righted herself after a moment. "There you are!" Gert told Karolina. She looked at their hands then at both girls.  


"Oh, hi. I'm Gert," Gert extended her hand to Nico. Nico let go of Karolina's hand as she reached for Gert's - the warmth gone. Karolina missed it already. Nico shook Gert's hand and said: "I'm Nico."  


"Chase," Chase told her and extended his hand too, which Nico also shook. He turned to Gert, "I told you she was fine. More than fine actually." Karolina blushes at the statement and Nico looks amused.  


"Karolina, we're going to head out, you coming?" Chase asked. All of this earned him a dirty look from Gert.  


"Yeah, sure," Karolina replied, "I need someone to make sure I get home, because I can't be responsible for myself right now."  


"She really can't," Nico told the two.  


"Stop making fun of me," Karolina told her with a shy smile, then completed it with: "It was nice meeting you,"  


"It was nice meeting you too, I hope we see each other some other time."  


"Yeah, me too," Karolina answered her with a shy smile on her face. Gert and Chase pay the coat check then they walk out. Karolina stops to look back at Nico fondly. She felt like she was forgetting something, though.  


Once they reached outside, Karolina was finally bombarded with the endless rant that she was expecting from her two best friends.  


"Holy shit, Dean, nice work! She's hot!" Chase told her. This earned him a slap on the arm by Gert.  


"Don't be a pig," Gert told him. She turned to Karolina and finished, "But honestly, she really is. How'd it happen? You two seemed pretty cozy holding hands back there. How'd you make your move? When are you seeing her again? Did she give you her number? Was--"  


The last question made Karolina stop. Fuck. Her phone number. That was what Karolina forgot. What kind of bad gay was she? Fuck. Fuck.  


"Fuck," Karolina said the last one out loud.  


"What's wrong?" Gert asked.  


"Her phone number..." Karolina muttered, "I have to go back."  


"You didn't get her number? Amateur," Chase told her - earning himself another slap on the arm. "I'm going to have a bruise there when I wake up," he tells Gert.  


"Good. You deserve it," she fires back.  


Karolina walks to the door, when she is stopped by the security guard.  


"Where are you going?" he asks.  


"I forgot to do something," Karolina answers.  


"What did you forget to do?" He asks.  


Karolina hesitates, but then tells him, "I forgot to get a girl's phone number."  


The security guards acts like he's thinking about if he'll let her in or not.  


"Come on, please?" Karolina tries.  


"Yeah, okay," the security guard says to her in a kind tone, smiling. He opens the rope up for her and lets her pass.  


Karolina walks into the club and heads straight for coat check. She removes her coat and walks up to Nico. Nico looks at her surprised, then smiles.  


"Karolina, hey."  


"Hey," she answers back.  


"Back for round two?" Nico asks. Karolina is trying to ask her the question but the words won't come out of her mouth. "Everything okay?" Nico tries.  


"Be right back," Karolina says. She walks into the club, leaving her jacket on the counter, and goes straight to the bar. She buys herself another whiskey and drinks it sitting in the corner wallowing in self pity and hyping herself up. She finishes the drink and it's exactly what she needs to get herself to horribly drunk again so she can build up the courage to ask Nico.  


Karolina walks back to coat check. Once she arrives there she sees Nico helping someone else.  


"Be right there," Nico tells her in a slightly colder tone than before. This makes Karolina's courage plummet, but she remained there. Once Nico is done helping the other people, she walks back to grab Karolina's jacket. She hands it to her.  


"Here you go," Nico says. She walks back into the jackets, and Karolina can tell she's trying to look busy.  


"Would you be mad if I asked for your phone number?" Karolina finally asks.  


Nico turns around warmer than before. She walks up to Karolina and takes the phone she's holding out from her hand and types in 'Nico Minoru' and her phone number.  


"Great. Thanks. I'll text you," Karolina tells her with a grin stretched across her face.  


"I'll be waiting," Nico replies.  


Karolina walks out with a smile on her face looking back at Nico. This causes her to almost trip down the stairs, which makes Nico laugh. Karolina decides she likes making Nico laugh. She also decides that she is sure she has never felt drunker. Walking past the bouncer, he asks her, "Get her number?"  


"Yeah," Karolina responds.  


He nods at her with a smile.  


She gets in the car that Gert and Chase are waiting for her in. She texts Nico right away. A text full of typos that essentially is a long winded way of saying hey how are you. Karolina would come to regret that text in the morning, but Nico would only find it endearing. After the car's been going for five minutes she tells the driver to stop as her stomach is churning and she's sure she's going to throw up.  


While she's throwing up on the side of the road, Gert holds her hair and Chase is passed out in the backseat.  


"I got her number," Karolina tells Gert between gagging.  


"Good for you, babe," Gert tells her.  


"She's so pretty, Gert," Karolina continues.  


"She is," Gert continues.  


"And I got her number!" Karolina exclaims.  


"You did."  


"I like being gay--" That statement is interrupted by Karolina throwing up the entirety of her stomach contents onto the pavement. Gert smiles down at her friend.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in an hour, hungover, and it's based on real life, kind of. I hope you like it. Please, don't be too mean, my head hurts right now haha


End file.
